The Burn of Guilt
by spelerison
Summary: He couldn't remember how he had gotten here or why they had taken him, all he knew was this was his own personal hell and she was the devil. Eliotcentric! Rated T for a few bad words.


**The Burn of Guilt**

The room, his room was padded.

There was the tiniest window too high to really see anything and it was barred.

He had lost track of the days as they began to clash with the nights, his mind too clouded and foggy to even care. Everything here was a constant, including the woman who was currently staring at him like some deranged animal.  
He wanted beyond anything else to push his matted hair behind his ears both to get rid of the irritant and to soothe his mind, but the jacket that currently had him hugging himself prevented any and all movement.

He couldn't remember how he had gotten here or why they had taken him, all he knew was that this was his own personal hell and she was the devil.

"Mr. Spencer are you ready to explain your actions yet?" Norah Thompson questioned the man who was examining his bare feet from behind an unruly curtain of hair, she had asked the same thing for nearly a week and he had yet to even whisper a word.

He shook his head drowsily, even drugged he knew better than to speak with the enemy, basic training taught him that. He might not have been a soldier any longer but somethings just stuck and if he could remember his rank and ID# at the moment that would be all she received but right now he was having too much trouble keeping his eyes open so his silence would have to do.

"No,.. well then I guess we'll have to start at the beginning. How about when you first moved into that quiet little neighborhood, the one you destroyed so quickly." As she opened her files she studied him carefully, she wasn't buying his insanity act and even if it took her another week she would get him to confess to his gruesome crimes.

_A tiny little house with blue shutters and yellow paint, two bedrooms and a garage that was more qualified to be a shed, it wasn't much but the papers in his hand and key in his pocket said it was his and that was enough. The realtor had looked at him like he had lost it when he asked to fill out the papers without even taking a look inside, every penny he ever saved had just been spent on his new home and he was excited to see if the risk would bring him a reward. The kitchen and bathroom would need to be completely redone and he was going to need at least a dozen cans of paint to get rid of the neon that was splashed on the walls but it was away, from family, from pity, and most importantly from memories so it was worth it._

"Why that house? What was so special about that particular house that caught your attention?" She didn't get an answer but as she continued the blur in Eliot's mind began to clear.

_"Hello?" He turned from his inspection of the cracking wall to see a petite blonde standing in his open doorway. "I saw you taking down the sale sign and I thought I'd come over and welcome you to our humble little corner of things."_

_"Thank you ma'am." He nodded as he turned to continue his walk through._

_"I didn't know it was so bad in here." She invited herself in, not put off by his behavior in the least. "No wonder why no one wanted to buy it, it's ugly enough out there but once you get in here you might as well be blind." She made a disgusted face at the what she supposed was pea but looked more like puke green paint. "Not that you're blind." She hurriedly rushed on seeing where he might take offense. "It may not be my style but it has its own beauty. Hidden somewhere... but I'm sure it's here." She tried to mend the damage she might have caused as she absently picked at the chipping paint. Hardison would kill her if she scared yet another neighbor away, half the block already named them as one of the houses to be supervised by the neighborhood watch._

_"I can see plain as day that it's ugly but don't you worry, I plan on changing that." He rolled his eyes at this peculiar woman, they hadn't even known each other for two minutes and she was not only insulting him but pulling his walls apart._

_"Cool, like they do on that T.V. show! Can I help? Are you wrecking it?" The prospect of demolishing a whole house with the press of a button was making her feel like a kid on Christmas._

_"No I'm not wrecking it, the bone structure's good, all it needs is a little TLC and appreciation and it'll be the nicest house on the block. As for you helping I can't let you do that." He shook his head at the near instant puppy eyes and pout that appeared._

_"Why?" It wasn't like she really had anything more productive to do with the day._

_"I don't associate with strangers." He explained simply as he turned on an over head light that began to flicker immediately, looked like he'd be doing some electrical as well._

_"Oh" She breathed out disappointedly before it dawned on her what he meant. "Oh I'm Parker, I live on your direct left with my husband Hardison. So now can I help?"_

_"Parker?" That was a strange name._

_"Yep PAR-KER, so can I?" She began swinging a cabinet with boredom as she waited for his answer._

_"You don't know me yet you want to help me fix up the house that's been vacant for months?" This was obviously not your average woman, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing._

_"I know you plenty... What's your name?" Parker stopped her ministrations as she realized she didn't know._

_"Eliot" He snorted at the contradiction she had just made herself_.

_"See Eliot," She stressed his name. "you're my neighbor, a nice guy, and you drive a truck. What else is there to know?"_

_"How do you know I'm a nice guy?" It had been awhile since anyone had associated that word with him._

_"I'm a good judge of character, now yes or no?"_

_"Alright but consider yourself warned." He conceded. Parker had once again started on the cabinet door but neither of them had expected what happened next and they were surprised by the clang as it fell from its hinges and clattered to the ground._

_"Sorry"_

_"It's fine. Now if you're helping I need two things from you." He placed the door on the counter and quickly ushered her out of the kitchen before she could break anything else._

_"Which are?" She was a bit embarrassed for breaking his cabinet but he was going to anyway so,... oh well._

_"Don't touch anything else without prior permission and give me directions to the hardware store." By now he had pulled her out of the house and to the front yard where he bothered to take his first actual good look at the mostly mud covered lawn. Sod was definitely going on the list._

_"How do you not know where the hardware store is? Anyone that's been in town two days knows where it is." That was shocking on its own, around there he might as well have said he didn't know his own name._

_"I've only been here about nine hours." He shrugged trying to decide if he would leave or pull the bushes._

_"No way! You can't possibly buy a house in a town you've never been to before in less than nine hours!" She wasn't believing it._

_"You'd be surprised how fast things get done when you pay significantly over the asking price." He was eyeing the house she claimed as hers and had to admit it was nice. All white with a beautifully done wrap around porch that was outlined by a little flower garden._

_"You paid more than they were asking for that? Now I know there's something wrong with you." Parker climbed in his truck truly baffled as to why he'd over pay for something so... well looking at it was explanation enough._

_"Yeah there's something wrong with me. Coming from the woman who gets in my truck after knowing me for all of twenty minutes." He grumbled surprising even himself when he climbed in without kicking her out. There was something about her, he wasn't sure what yet but he knew that he had chosen the right spot to start over._

"You had no ulterior motive in spending 15 grand over what that piece of junk was worth?" Norah had begun to pace a circle around him. Between relaying what the neighbors had told her and asking questions about the day he met Mrs. Hardison something in his eyes had sparked and she was going to run with it. "Well then how about the day you met Mr. Ford?"

_One week later_

_"Hold it still Parker!" Eliot grumbled as she once again switched her grip on the door while he was trying to make sure it was level._

_"I am, it's not my fault you're taking so long! Just stick the hinges in and be done already!" They had been standing there nearly thirty minutes with about a dozen jams and two dozen nails and they still weren't done. She didn't understand why he had to change the front door, it was the only thing on the house that looked to be worth keeping._

_"Okay and when it gets stuck and you can't pry it back open or better yet it wont even close you can do me the favor and fix it yourself!" He once again yelled when she nearly got his finger smashed._

_"Quit trying to get out of working and get going! I could probably do a better job myself anyway!" She sent his glare right back with no real malice. She had spent every day there since they met and was fairly enjoying herself, especially after getting to take a sledge hammer to the rest of the kitchens cabinets. "Hey Nate!" She waved forgetting for a second that she was supposed to be holding the door._

_"Parker!" He had been unfortunate enough to lean on the door a bit as she let go and it nearly sent him flying off the step stool. "If you don't mind I would like to avoid kissin' the dirt today!"_

_"Oh will you stop whining already!" She rolled her eyes at how much he complained, it was almost as much as Hardison. "Nate come here a minute!"_

_"Parker I got to get to work!" He began fiddling with his keys trying to get away before she could go on. It wasn't that he didn't like her, it was just hard to deal with Parker's energy before five cups of coffee, and he really did need to get to work._

_"Come on, just for a minute!" She pleaded while still working hard to focus on her current task._

_"Parker leave the man alone, and stop screaming. The rest of the neighborhood doesn't need an announcement." Eliot chastised as he began screwing in the top hinge._

_"Skip the neighbors! They already think I'm nuts and you're trouble so who cares. Besides it doesn't matter, it's just Nate." She shrugged glad to see Nate was indeed coming their way._

_"What Parker? It's really not a good day for me to be late." He had already turned back around hoping that his momentary presence would be enough._

_"I only want a minute. Hardison asked me to invite you to dinner and said to bring Sophie with, something about returning the favor."_

_"Good, thanks, I'll do that. See you later, Bye." He offered just about it all. He had told Sophie not to meddle but thanks to her little dinner party he would now be sitting through a thank you one that would leave the ball in their court and start a never ending cycle._

_"Wait a minute, I want to introduce you to Eliot." A little too late she realized, she had just done exactly that._

_"Eliot Spencer" Eliot offered his hand after rubbing it on his jeans a few times to rid it of the excess saw dust._

_"Nathan Ford" Nate shook the hand of an almost burly man. "I'm sorry I can't stay a while longer but I really have to be going. I'll stop by sometime though and see if I can't introduce myself a little more properly." Nate was halfway back to his car not sure if he'd make good on that._

_"Don't worry! He's coming by for dinner too!" Parker yelled knowing Nate probably wouldn't follow through with that._

_"Says who?"_

_"I do. You don't even have a stove so there's no way I'm taking no for an answer." If Hardison insisted she sit through an entire night with Sophie she was at least going to bring Eliot with and see if things wouldn't turn out to be a total bore._

_"Whatever" He turned his attention back to the door that had been giving him nothing but grief. He had already met Hardison, he still wasn't sure why he went by or why his wife called him by his last name, and he seemed to be a cool guy. A bit geeky but alright none the less so the night with them couldn't be too bad. No it was being with two other people that had him hesitant._

_"Shouldn't you have done that first?" She wasn't positive but this was seeming a lot more difficult than it should be._

_"Unless you want to take over don't tell me how to get this done. I've done doors before and we would've been done already if somebody would just hold still for a minute!" He completely ignored the fact that she was right. He had done things a bit backward but there was no way he would admit that._

Shaking his head he pulled himself out of his thoughts just in time to hear Mrs. Thompson's next question. "Mr. Jones told me you had a fight with Nate mere minutes after you met, that the three of you argued and he sped off shortly after. He also said that was only the first of many disagreements he had witnessed between you two. Would those have anything to do with what you did?"

He snorted at that.  
Anything coming from Mr. Jones was pure fictional, the old man nearly lived in his window looking for the slightest thing to turn into gossip.

"You find that amusing?" She had finally caused a crack in his wall and she was going to dig until it crumbled. "Only a monster would find that amusing. All that blood, the blood you were covered in, it's entertainment?" Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "But you didn't look entertained when they found you, all curled in on yourself whimpering like a child." She squatted right in front of him as she pushed his hair back to unveil those eyes, the lost and broken look might have fooled the others but she wasn't buying it. She was going to get him to show his true colors and then he'd be out of this wack house and on route to life in prison where he belonged. "What happened?"

He shook his head viciously.  
This was a mind game; she was trying to trick him, but it wasn't going to work.  
Though why would anyone stoop to these tactics unless he was a captive?  
He had been discharged, hadn't he?

Damn the moss that was covering his thoughts.  
What had he been accused of?  
Why was he there?

"The only thing your silence is proving is guilt Spencer. Why don't you stop beating around the bush and wasting everyones time and just walk me through that night."

"_I'm so proud of you mama." Hardison threw an arm around Parker's shoulders and pulled her close._

_He had had his doubts about her helping to renovate a house but there they were standing out on the back of Eliot's patio getting ready to sit down for a cook out and that to him was proof enough that she had been more than able._

_"Eliot did most of the work, he was just nice enough to give me a better way to spend my days." She knew that there were a great many hours where she had been more hindrance than help._

_"Which we all thank you for." Nate half joked as he began pouring wine. It had been many months since they had had to deal with a bored Parker and now that this task was done he was nervous with how she'd spend her newly found free time._

_"I should be the one thankin' all of you." Eliot spoke seriously as he brought his platter over from the grill and they quickly began to fix their plates. "Ya'll've been real good to me."_

_"That's what friends do man." Hardison was surprised to see such a rough and gruff dude gettin' emotional but...,hell he felt the same._

_"To friends!" Sophie proposed and the others were soon chorusing her make shift toast._

"A nice little dinner party to celebrate finishing your house." Norah's tone was near teasing. "Good friends and food... but somebody went and spoiled that." She stopped with the walk she had been doing around the room as she came back up to his face. "You wouldn't know who would ya?"

_The night had moved on nicely and with it the mood. "Soph," She had been picking at a piece of pie with all the elegance of a queen when Nate called out her name and she gave him her complete attention. "We both know I'm not the greatest guy in the world ...but I was wondering if you'd let me be only yours?"_

"That night Nate asked Sophie to be his wife.." She had reclaimed her seat across from Eliot and though he hadn't said anything she could see his eyes starting to heat. "You don't have a wife, do you Spencer?" She knew he didn't but it would help to unsettle him. "Maybe that's what set you off, he was working on his second and you'd yet to find a first." His breathing picked up and with it her questions. "Or was it the Hardisons' news that made you snap?"

_"Congratulations!" Sophie had just said yes and Hardison found himself thinking, 'about time'. "Right Parker?"_

_"Yeah of course, now you guys can have a bunch of little Nate and Sophie's and our kids can play together." She bit her lip hoping they'd get the message, she hadn't been sure of how else to tell them._

_"Parker we don't have any kids." Eliot's look was questioning much the same as everyone elses and he found himself having to remind the table that too._

_"We will."_

"You spent a lot of time working in close quarters with Parker... maybe you picked up a little more than the floorboards." The accusation had him shifting in his seat and she smirked at the progress. "But her being pregnant... that just ruins any plans you might have had on making her yours." He dropped his head just the tiniest of bits but it was all she needed to know he was cracking. "Did that make your blood boil?"

With a near laugh she once again stood from her chair. "No way was she gonna leave her husband for a loser like you... not with a baby on the way. That's why you did it didn't you? They couldn't be happy if you weren't."

"NO!"

His out burst surprised her but she was quick to pounce on it. "You're right. It wasn't because of them was it? This is about Aimee." She had done her homework, she knew the whole story behind things, everyone did. The only problem was they wanted to leave him in the nut house and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"I served my country proudly!" He spat darkly.

"But she didn't care did she?" Her tone had mellowed, there was no need to hound anymore, he was right on the edge of spilling.

"I came home with an honorary discharge... and she" His voice was full of anger.

"You came home to make her your wife and she was screwin' around with the stable boy while you were risking your life!" She found it hard not to laugh at her own remark but it did its job of pissing him off which she loved. People let things out foolishly when they were mad.

"I had to leave my home because of the embarrassment!" She had promised to wait for him yet he had come to find out she hadn't even waited a week.

"Yeah, whores tend to do that to ya." She clicked her cheek with a false sympathy. "But that didn't give you the right to do what you did."

"I had just made a new home! Things were going good and they had to go and fuck it up!" His nostrils were flaring as he pulled against his bonds.

"They were moving on and you..." She tapped him squarely on the nose. "you were going to get left behind all over again."

"I couldn't let that happen." The thought of having to start over for a third time had him seeing as much red now as it had then.

"Of course you couldn't and I don't blame you." It was the first time she was really seeing him and she was taking her time to observe it. "A couple, a soon to be family, there just wasn't going to be any room left for you."

"I did what I had to do."

"They were becoming a threat and like any good soldier you eliminated it." She shrugged but on the inside it was bothering her how she wasn't seeing even an ounce of regret or guilt.

"I worked closely with a medic for nearly a year,... didn't take long to learn where all the main arteries are."

She was telling herself that that was not a glint she saw in his eye as she swallowed roughly. "You also worked closely with blades..."

"The steak knife was right there." He smiled and she did her best not to cringe.

"How could you resist.."

"I didn't" He had just stuck the nail in his coffin and they both knew it.

With one last distasteful look she moved to the door. "See you in hell Spencer."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"This next one is Eliot Spencer." Dr. Sutton announced to his group of interns as they stopped outside of the oneway mirror.

"Who's he talking to?" David, the most vocal of the group asked, his pen was at the ready for notes.

"Detective Norah Thompson." He informed as his group took turns in peering through the window.

"What's he doing?" Nick, a man that went to medical school solely for his fathers benefit asked.

"Confessing, Norah gets him to about once a week." He informed as he waited for them to ask the obvious.

"What's he confessing to?" David once again bothered.

"Murder, he claims to have killed four friends in cold blood."

"But no ones there," Melissa wondered why she was the only one to find this weird. "he's all by himself."

"That's the point." Dr. Sutton figured she'd be the one to get it, after all she was the most observant. "He lost those friends in a bar fire," He took one last look into the room with a sorrowful sigh. "and with them his mind."

* * *

**E/N: I'd love to know what you think:)**


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